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O ffaly-based Arderin told High Court it had been treated unfairly

A High Court judge has found that Revenue did not refuse to grant a distillery tax relief on alcohol it bought to make hand sanitiser for hospitals following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

M s Justice Siobhan Phelan ruled that Tullamore, Co Offaly-based Arderin Distillery Ltd, which manufactures spirits including the Mor range of gin, lacked the legal standing to bring the challenge of the alleged refusal.

The distillery’s proceedings, aimed at setting aside the purported refusal, when no actual decision has been made were “premature”, the judge held.

However, due to the health emergency that existed at the time the judge said she was satisfied that the distillery had established a legitimate expectation of an entitlement to the tax relief it had sought.

It was entitled to a declaration from the court that it has such a legitimate expectation to the grant of the tax relief it sought once it establishes to Revenue’s satisfaction that the alcohol it imported was used and intended to be used in the production of hand sanitiser, she said.

The company had claimed that it had been treated unfairly by Revenue following the distillery’s decision in March 2020 it commenced making an ethanol-based sanitiser for the HSE to use in hospitals.

It claimed that normally alcohol is subject to excise duty in the form of Alcohol Products Tax (APT). However, in certain circumstances, alcohol products, including those used for medicinal purposes or in hospitals, the APT does not have to be paid.

The distillery claims it ordered alcohol to make the sanitiser after it was given assurances from an official with Revenue in late March that it would not have to pay APT.

It also said it complied with all the requirements it needed to get APT.

Revenue denied the claims and had argued that the company’s action should have been dismissed on grounds including that it never made any decision either to refuse or granting the company tax relief on the alcohol.

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In its action the distillery claimed an official with Revenue verbally granted it relief on APT for up to for 80,000 litres of alcohol.

It claimed the alcohol it used to make the hand sanitiser during the emergency exposed Arderin to an excise duty or APT of approximately €2.1m.

The firm sought various orders and declarations including an order quashing Revenue’s alleged refusal to grant the distillery relief from duty.

Revenue claimed it never approved a request by the company for relief on the alcohol acquired by the company in March 2020, or that Revenue expressed its satisfaction or approval that the company intended to use alcohol for a purpose exempted from APT.

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